Direction indicator



June 14, 1932. N, W. ADAMS DIRECTON INDTCATOR Filed Feb. 6, 1931 gl nw IMIIIIIIIIIIIIIU Y INVENTOR ATToRN Ew( Patented June 14, 1932 Unirse-:surte Parana" estace noie-Man` w. ADAMS, or sYRAcUsn, New Yon-K, Assrenonl or ronTY onnnrrn'nonnnrrrs To HQMER r. Manen,- or SYRAGUSE., New vomi DIRECTION INDICATOR l i Applcationled February 6, 1931. Serial' No. 513,882.

This invention relates to a direction indicator for motor vehicles, and the like, and has for its object to provide novel electromechanical mechanism to indicate turning movements of the vehicle, the said mechanism being power driven, and manually controlled, and being arranged for installation entirely outside of the body of the vehicle. A furA ther object is to provide an indicating mechanism of 'this class that may be substantially concealed and protect-ed from the weather,

by parts common to present day automobile design and construction, thereby obviating defacing or detracting from the ornamental appearances of the vehicle. And a further object is to provide details of construction and arrangement which are extremely simple and highly effective and require a minimum of care and attention on the part of the drivers of the vehicles.

l attain these objects by the means set forth in the detailed description which follows, and as illustrated by the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure l is a front elevation of an auto- A mobile, to which my improvement is applied,

showing the tubular indicator arm extended to signal approaching and following vehicles. Fig. 2 is a broken side elevation of the automobile. Fig. S is a side elevation of the complete device, the signal arm being extended, in Fig. l. Fig. 4 isfan enlarged central Vertical longitudinal section, taken on line 4 4 of Fig. 6, showing the indicator arm in receded position; also showing the motorand Fig. 8 is a side elevation of the same.

In the drawing, 2 represents generally an automobile, 2 the body, 2a the windshield, 2c the water-table or visor that overhangs the windshield, and 2d the usual steering Je wheel.

`My direction indicator comprises an selon gated hollowcasing or body 3, which ispref;-

erably wholly disposed within' the angle formed by the top frontportion of the body and thevisor 2c, in whichposition the irl-- dicator is notonly practically invisible,l but isl also protected'from the weather, and may be secured ,to the body by any suitable means (not shown). "By this disposition, no holes col needbe cut inthe body of the car in .order to apply 0r operate the-.'in'dicator.4 The lower or main portion 3 of the casing 3 is substan-` tiallycylindrical. {Thetop portion of the casing is 'preferably contracted and comprises an integral'hollow rib, as 3a, which is formed` with a relatively large opening as 30, to afford access to the interior intermediate its open ends, 4 representsa tube of relatively small caliber that comprises the reciprocable indicator arm, to one end of which is secured an electric lamp, as 5, that maybe supplied with current by wires 5-5a, which are preferably disposed within thev arm,` as best shown in Fig. 4. The arm 4 is' preferably'disposed concentrically in the enlarged chamber 3 of the casing and is partially guidedbyV a sleeve 4', the latterbeing formed with an annular flange 4a that loosely fits the bore 3 of the casing in which it is rotatable v(seeFig.y 4). The arm 4.is preferably .disposed concentrically in a wire coil or spiral member 6, which is rotated by a motor A, preferably reversible, and for this purpose, one end 6 of the worm is operatively connected with a chuck @carried by the armature shaft a of thefinotor, the opposite end of the wormis preferably `rigidly connected to the sleeve 4';

Theend 6 ofthespiral member 6 is preferablygjournaled in astationary disc or guide 6a, which isdisposdwithin the barrel 3 of the casing and tends,-together with sleeve 4, to maintain theconcentricity off the casing spiral member and arm- 4. .The spiral member 6 drives the arm 4 in opposite directions f by the reversingpfthe -motorTtoeifect the extension `and recessionV of the ysignal lamp Tothis end,the relatively lonjgspiralis loosely `connected tothelinner end ofarnr-l 4, by"meansf of a ,loop .orI staple-4c, which `is Secured l t0 SaiCl,arm-,- Bv this arrangement, f

rotation of the spiral 6, for example, in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 6, forces the arm 4 towards the right for displaying the signal 5, as in Fig. 3, and the arm may then be returned to the casing 3 by the turning of the spiral in. the reverse direction. vWhen operated in either direction, the spiral 6 simply Worms its Way through the loop 4c and reciprocates the arm 4. The circuit for the lamp 5 comprises a battery B, a Wire 7v4 that leads from one pole of the battery to a stationary terminal 7, Which is sheathed-in insulation 7a, the latter being permanently disposed in the rib Sar/soas to position the free end of the terminal 7 in the opening 3c of the rib. The Wire 5 extends fromthe lamp 5 within arm 4 and connectswvith a second terminal 7b Which ismounted upon' ing contact with the inner wall of therib and complet-es the lamp circuit Whenever arm 4 is extended by means of a Wire 7e which connects the opposite pole of the battery B With the rib, as atf, shown in Figs. 3 and 4. This rendersthe operation of lamp 5 entirely automatic. The disposing vofthe terminal V75, the members 7 c and 'Zd'within the rib, not only guides, but prevents the rotation of Yarm 4and renders it possible for the spiral mem-v ber 6 to reciprocate said arm. The motorA- is preferably reversible in order to e-iiect the reciprocationof arm4and may be. controlled by. any suitable reversing switch, as 8, shown in Figs. 7 and 8, Which may be operatedfby a lever 8, shown-by full lines inthe neutral position. The lefthand dotted positionA of` the handle 8", in Fig. 7, indicates the adjustment ofthe motor to thrust the signal 5 outwardly, While the righthand'dotted position ofthe handle, in the same view, indicates the inward movement of'said arm.

My direction indicator is extremely simple, positive and highly efficient in operation. The provision of the novel spiral drive for theA signalarm when coupled With-the peculiar guiding means for th'e said arm that traverses ftherib 3a, and the novel automatic control for the lamp circuit, insures prompt,

NORMAN W. ADAMS. 

